Authors: Tyler Eddy (University of Michigan), Susan Lepri (University of Michigan), Jim Raines (University of Michigan)

The TFIPS (Triple Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer) concept is a spaceborne ion mass spectrometer used for advanced study of the charged particles emitted by the sun into the solar wind. Solar wind conditions in the heliosphere can change rapidly and demand fast detection systems to characterize small scale structures and processes. These solar wind disturbances present considerable danger to Earth’s infrastructure and astronauts in space. The importance of this work is to establish connections between the energies and types of particles seen in space to the source regions at the sun from which they are accelerated. The TFIPS design provides the scientifically-driven performance characteristics that must be met by next generation spaceborne particle instruments through its high-cadence, high-fidelity measurements. Moreover, TFIPS requires two to six times less power than instruments currently in operation that make similar detections. We seek to develop the TFIPS concept that adds energy resolving solid state detectors to a design based on the FIPS heritage model that was successfully employed on the MESSENGER mission sent to Mercury. We present our instrument concept and expected instrument performance.